Apple may be looking to buy liquid-crystal displays for iPhones from Japan

TakashiMochizuki

YokoKubota

Apple Inc. has expressed interest in buying advanced liquid-crystal displays from Japan Display Inc. for some iPhones next year, people knowledgeable about the matter said, a sign the technology has life despite competition from a newer type of display.

Japan Display
6740, -5.56%
said last month that the advanced displays, which it calls Full Active, would account for more than 70% of its business in panels for smartphones and other smart devices in the year ending March 2019. Japan Display has said in a regulatory filing that
AAPL, -0.38%
accounted for about 54% of its revenue in the year ended March 2017.

Asked at a Tuesday news conference about customers for the Full Active displays, Kazutaka Nagaoka, chief of Japan Display’s mobile unit, said clients so far were mostly Chinese handset makers including Xiaomi Inc., which he said used the panel for its Mi Mix 2 phone. He declined to discuss potential clients from other regions.

People at companies that work with Japan Display said interest about Full Active LCDs has also come from Apple. That is why the display maker is predicting rapid uptake for Full Active, they said. Apple declined to comment.

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